The Great Arturo Brachetti

A quick but insightful interview with the great Arturo Brachetti!

Theming 

One of the most interesting things I heard in this interview were Arturo's comments on HOW he puts a show together.  I think most magicians could learn A LOT from this so it's worth watching a couple of times to let the lesson sink in.

When asked what his favourite character is, he states that he doesn't have enough time really to enjoy a particular character as he is only each character for a minute or so.  He then goes on to say that that is not how they put the show together anyway.  They always start "from above".  Elaborating he says that this involves deciding on a THEME which they then work out the characters for.  His example is for Hollywood, so they then list all the characters from movies they can think of, or the ones that they have good gags for etc.  He says that it's like writing a play in that you start with a story and THEN work out the characters.

Now try replacing "character" in her question with "trick" and you'll recognise a VERY familiar question.  "What's your FAVOURITE trick?"  There are differences of course, but I think if we apply this to our philosophy about putting a show together and try to answer the question the same way, you come up with an interesting way of thinking about your show.

You might say something like, "I never start with a particular trick or wanting to do a certain effect in my show.  I always start from above, with a theme or story and then work out the tricks I can do in that theme."

Now, obviously this might not be the case with EVERY aspect of your show, but it provides yet another possible answer to the many "How do I..." questions that magicians have.  It is also yet another way of discouraging magicians from buying random magic from websites without having a clue of WHY they would do that particular trick or whether it would suit them.

Now as a fun exercise try it.  Just think of a theme.  Imagine you're organising a party and it's been given a specific theme. Imagine you now have to dress the party to have the feel of that theme.  I bet that you've already had some ideas.  Well now imagine that you're performing some theme related tricks for this party...what tricks could be adapted for this theme or would work outright the way they are.  Think of the imagery, the characters, let your imagination run wild.  You'll hopefully find that the tricks begin to write themselves.  Not only that, but music ideas might begin to surface as well.

On a final note, something else that I found interesting was the use of the word "WE".  It has been said many times that magicians always try to put their shows together themselves.  Arturo Brachetti, despite performing alone has about 50 people working with him.  The least we could do is to hire someone to be a director, even if it's a friend to cast a discerning eye over a routine and make comments.  This also relates back to my other blog about creativity when I said that a collaborator is invaluable.  Once you start to build up a team of people you go to for certain things, you will benefit immensely. 

Good luck as always.